Vanguard Poised for Another Record Year as Index Investing Gains

(Bloomberg) — Vanguard Group is on track for another record year of inflows as investors increasingly shun stock pickers.

The world’s largest mutual fund company attracted $198.4 billion in the first eight months of this year, a 19% increase from the same period a year earlier, spokesman John Woerth said in an e-mail Thursday. In 2015, Vanguard lured $236.1 billion, the most ever for the company.

Vanguard is benefiting as investors, frustrated by the lackluster performance and high fees charged by active managers, are pouring money into low-cost funds that mimic indexes, which is Vanguard’s specialty.

Investors pulled $130.9 billion from active and exchange-traded funds through July 31, while adding $241.8 billion to passive funds, according to data from Morningstar.

“Low cost investing has never been more in vogue,” said Lawrence Glazer, who helps manage $2 billion at Mayflower Advisors in Boston.

Vanguard had $3.3 trillion in U.S. mutual funds and ETFs as of July 31, 22% of the entire market, Morningstar data show.

American Funds had a market share of 8.4% and Fidelity Investments had 8.3%.